China's manufacturing sector faces a series of obstacles that could slow its growth this year, according to a recent Citibank report. The most visible manifestation of this situation is that investments in the sector have been the slowest to recover in the Chinese economy as a whole. In 2020, investments in this sector fell by 2.2%. The reasons? There are several. The profits of companies in the sector are their main source of financing, and these were reduced in 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic. Along these lines, Zou Lan, head of the financial markets department at the People's Bank of China (PBOC), attributed the slowdown in investment in the sector to the liquidity constraints it faced last year. Added to this is the pressure on profits this year due to rising commodity prices and the resumption of social security contributions, which had been suspended during the pandemic. In April, however, the People's Bank of China noted that investments in manufacturing are beginning to show positive results thanks to growing support from the financial sector.